Tuesday, 14 August 2007

Progress report

Although I am, deep down, terribly lazy, I do occasionally have fits of productivity in which I finish projects I have been procrastinating on for weeks. Such was the case last night, when I finally grabbed the summertime tunic and wove in all the ends. There were a TON of ends, because the yarn was very knotty and needed to be cut far too often. It took me well over an hour, but this morning she was washed and is now christening my blocking board:


I also bought ribbon and beads for the straps, so this one should get a proper FO post soon -- only two months after I finished knitting it. I was hoping it would be done by this evening, but today turned out to be a cold, rainy day, and nothing is drying quickly in this weather.

Clapotis has been teaching me very a important lesson about hand-dyed yarn. And that lesson is: never use it again for projects that require more than one skein. The first two I used were perfectly matched. Then I started happily knitting with the third, only to discover (after knitting about three inches, of course) that it was noticeably darker than the rest. Frog frog frog. Next skein was better, but seemed to be missing most of the red tones. Snip that yarn, start a new ball. The one after was fine. The next one had a perfect blend of colours, but the overall tone was a bit darker. So now, as I enter the home stretch, I'm alternating the two balls that were only a bit off in order to produce a more even effect overall. And, once again, creating too many damn ends that I'll have to weave in.


The next time I feel productive, that is. Not now, for goodness sake.

Thursday, 9 August 2007

Always a WIP, never a FO

I am beginning to wonder whether I will ever finish another project. Forget the sweater curse; I have the curse of the never-ending WIP. This is another way of saying that the ends on the summertime tunic still have not been woven in and Wisp, well, Wisp is having issues. I was finished. FINISHED, I tell you. However, despite going up a needle size and binding off loosely, the cast-off edge was still too tight. And the yarn knotted when I undid it. Until, eventually, in a fit of rage, I cut off the cast-off edge and tried to recreate my stitches. I managed to pick them all up -- no dropped ones, it seems, but I didn't manage to pick them all up from the same row and still need to find a loose end of yarn to start the actual knitting. It is in time out for the moment.

So, instead of dealing with these two projects, I became one of the last knitters in the world to knit Clapotis.


Here it is, halfway done. I'm using Araucania alpaca which, despite being unseasonal, is so soft that I am really enjoying knitting with it. I'm not sure yet if this will be for me; I suspect it will go in the pile of knitted Christmas gifts, and I'll figure out who gets what in December.

Friday, 3 August 2007

Feeling crafty

What do you get when you combine the top of a now-broken IKEA Lack table, some batting, a bit of fabric, and a liberally applied staple gun?


A brand new blocking board! Cat feet are provided for scale.

The fabric is a 1" x 1" checked pattern, making it very easy to block to size. I'm rather in love with this project right now. It might even be enough to convince me to finally weave in all the ends on the summertime tunic so that I can give it a trial run.

Lots of knitting going on right now, but it's all very ADD. I keep starting things, getting new ideas, ripping them out, starting new things, etc. I hope to have some FOs sometime in August.

Tuesday, 24 July 2007

The eternal wisp

I am, it must be said, very bored of wisp. The pattern is dreadfully easy, with no stitch more complicated than k2tog, but the fact that it is lace ensures that it still requires too much of my attention. Straight tv knitting is out, it seems.

Since I was in Glasgow for most of the last two weeks, I didn't get a lot of knitting done -- this is despite being stuck in Stansted airport for 12 hours. Curse the restrictions on knitting needles. However, I buckled down this weekend and am now about two-thirds of the way through:


A close-up:


I am trying to force myself through the last few rows, but it's not calling to me right now. This has been made worse by the yarn that followed me home from Glasgow, which is calling to me and demanding to be swatched. My friend lives mere steps from K1 Yarns, and every time we headed into town, or to the pub or cafe, I had to pass by it. I resisted as long as I could, but I am only so strong. Eventually, I gave in and let myself be seduced by 10 skeins bright red Artesano Alpaca (a much bolder red than the photo suggests).


Of course, now I'm not sure what to do with it. I was planning to knit Rhiannon with it, but I'm not convinced alpaca is the best fiber for what is essentially a tank. Of course, I didn't get enough for a proper jumper, and too much for gloves or a hat, and I am sick to death of scarves. Perhaps I will just pet it for a bit and instead try to find a use for the acid green cotton that is currently haunting my stash.

Sunday, 8 July 2007

Wisp hits a snag

I write about my cats here more than I might actually like. I don't WANT to be crazy cat knitting lady, you know. It feels as if that title automatically ages me thirty years and I should hit the local furniture shop for a rocking chair. But sometimes, they make it very difficult to NOT talk about them. Behold exhibit A:

Kidsilk Haze, as it looked when I first opened the package. The colourway is Liqueur, and it is gorgeous.

I was in London for a few days for a conference, and brought the yarn along with me, hoping to knit on the train (a highly unsuccessful effort, by the way -- lurching trains + laceweight yarn = brand new levels of knitting frustration). When I returned home at the end of the last day, exhausted from a long week of seminars and trains (and, let's be honest, a fair bit of wine, as well), I dropped the bag by the front door. This was my first mistake. The second mistake was not noticing that I'd left the side pocket, the one holding the yarn, unzipped.

Now, you have to understand one thing about my house. It is quite large. Much larger than a single person actually needs, and far too big to ever keep clean. This does not mean I am minted, sadly; the house is terribly run down, with electrics constantly exploding and enough peeling paint to ensure that I will contract lead poisoning one of these days. It was actually the cheapest house I could find when I was looking, which was its primary appeal. However, it IS a big house, and that is the important part to this story.

About an hour after returning home, I noticed that a skein of Kidsilk Haze was by the foot of my bed. On the third floor. For one moment, I dared to hope that it was the second skein, the one I did not bring to London, but I knew that one was tucked safely away in a drawer. This was the skein in my bag. And, sadly, it was not the entire skein, as the yarn clearly was heading out the door. I picked it up, and began following the trail: out the bedroom, down the stairs, to the landing, down more stairs, on to the second floor, around the corner, across the next landing, down a second flight of stairs, across the dining room, through the doorway, and back across the front room of the house, all the way to where I first dropped my bag. Ava had managed to carry the skein through the entire house, missing only the kitchen in her travels, and leaving a mohair trail in her wake.

The result:

The pattern for Wisp says you can get by with one skein. I'm hoping that one and a half will do the trick.

Of course, even as I try to knit, Ava keeps grabbing the yarn in her mouth and attempting to run off with it. It is, apparently, hers. I have defended the knitting enough to produce the first inch of the wrap:

So far, I like the project a lot. Sadly, today I must clean in preparation for going out of town tomorrow, so its progress will wait another week.

But I am locking it in an impenetrable safe to protect it from the feline menace.

Saturday, 30 June 2007

Done!

Today, there were two things working overtime to keep me inside and knitting all day. Firstly, it was wet and raining pretty much from sunup to sundown. Secondly, at 11:00 am, my cats came to sit with me in bed (I was already up and about! Just...being lazy.) and promptly fell into an adorable cuddle pile. Loki half opened one eye, to make sure I wasn't thinking about moving, then promptly fell sound asleep. I could not resist. I declared it a do-nothing day for all three of us. However, while they are naturally cute -- see exhibit A:



-- I have been a slovenly, PJ-wearing lump today. Fortunately, I channeled all that excess energy into knitting, and completed the summertime tunic at last. There would be photos, but my camera died at the exact moment the knitting stopped. It's like it knew.

The ends still have to be woven in and it needs to be washed and blocked and then have a yet-to-be-purchased ribbon threaded through it, but the knitting part is done! I'm not yet convinced about the fit, but I will withhold judgment till I've blocked it.

In the meantime, I have no projects on the needles. I'm not quite sure what to do with myself, really. Off to Ravelry for inspiration!

SP Contest #8: Three yarns I would love to try

The very last SP contest asks ask three yarns I'm dying to get my hands on. Because I am greedy, I want all the yarn, but I made an effort to narrow it down.

1. Everyday(ish) yarn I would most like to try: Blue Sky Alpaca. I have heard lots of good things about this one, and many of my favourite designers use it in their patterns. I'd happily try any in their range, although the Royal alpaca and the alpaca silk are especially tempting. The organic cotton looks like it would be brilliant for summer, also. However, at £6-7/skein, it's still pricy enough that I should wait till my birthday before I splurge. Runner up in this category: RYC Cashsoft (which also has to benefit of being a bit cheaper).

2. Material I would most like to try: bamboo. There are several summer projects that I'm sure would be wonderful in bamboo, and I'm very interested in experimenting with this fiber. I'm looking at the lovely RYC Bamboo Soft bamboo or the more budget Sirdar Just Bamboo. Runner-up fiber: linen.

3. Yarn I will never, ever buy myself unless I win the lottery: Tilli Tomas. It looks luscious. The colours are deep, the yarn is luxurious, and the various sequins/beads/crystals add a wonderful touch of glitter. However, at over £20 a skein, it would cost at least £200 to make one top. I suspect this one will stay on the "I can dream" list for quite some time. Runner up luxury yarn: Cherry Tree Hill.

Now, it's back to the Summertime Tunic. I finished up the back yesterday and only have the front to complete. Hopefully, I can finish it today so I have a legitimate reason to post again later -- and thereby avoid falling afoul of the SP10 4 posts per month rule.